US Navy hands over murder suspect

The US Navy handed over a US sailor suspected of killing and robbing a 56-year-old Japanese woman to Japanese police.

Seaman William Reese, 21, has been arrested after being escorted to the local police station in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.

Japanese media reports Reese, who is based aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, has confessed to killing Yoshie Sato.

However, neither local police nor the Navy can confirm the reports.

Ms Sato was found bleeding and unconscious near a building in Yokosuka and died from internal injuries.

Domestic media reports say the sailor had returned to base in blood-stained clothes, but had been vague as to his motives for the attack.

The suspect has been based in Japan since May 2004.

It is his first Navy assignment since completing his training.

Commander John Wallach, director of public affairs for the US Naval Forces in Japan, says further details of the suspect will not be released until his indictment.

The incident comes at an awkward time.

Japan and the US are attempting to hammer out a deal with Japanese local communities to allow the reorganisation of US bases in Japan in an attempt to make the US military more flexible.

A US-Japan pact governing the conduct of US military personnel in Japan does not require the transfer of military suspects until they are charged.

But after the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl by three US servicemen on the southern island of Okinawa, the US agreed to give favourable consideration to pre-indictment transfers in the case of suspected rape, murder and other "heinous" crimes.

Japan's Foreign Ministry has expressed satisfaction with the US handling of the incident.

Nearly 50,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan under the allies' bilateral security treaty.